Summertime Danger

Did you know…the summer months are the most dangerous for devices connected to wall outlets?

Here's why: In the summer, the electric grid experiences significant burdens from increased demand from fans and air conditioners. Why you may be comfy and cool in the office, your PC and network equipment is being battered by wild power variations at the outlet. It’s a problem because it can lead to unstable performance, shortened hardware lifespan, but worst of all...total system failure.

So how can we protect valuable equipment that your business depends on every day? Its simple. Any device that is critical to keeping your network and communications running should have a UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply, aka battery backup) connected between the wall outlet and your equipment. This is the most important detail; it MUST have the following features:

• Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR)
• It helps by correcting low and high voltage conditions without using the battery (ie. brownouts)
• Power conditioning 
• This protects connected equipment from "Dirty Power" (surges, spikes, lightning, noise, etc)
• Accurate run-time needs
• Don't use a UPS that's smaller than your normal power requirement.
• Make sure you will have enough battery time to shut down the equipment and still have some charge left
• Remember,  batteries lose their charge over time

The good news is that protecting yourself from stable power is cheap! You may ask yourself "Why do I need this, everything is working fine", and it may be OK...for now. The cost incurred AFTER a power related failure is typically between 4 and 10 times more expensive than protecting yourself before it happened! Penny Wise, Dollar Foolish, it just doesn't pay.

We can help you stay protected so you don't need to sweat it.

Will Kutzler
F1 Networx Inc
http://www.f1networx.com

Late Model HP PC High Failure Rates

HP has discovered that some P66xx and S56xx and HPE-4xx Desktop Models built in the June / July 2010 time frame have system boards with a slightly higher than expected failure rate. The following computers may experience no video at start up and stop responding.

These systems include:

Model Name                                                     Product Number

HP Pavilion Elite HPE-400f Desktop PC    BT470AA

HP Pavilion Elite HPE-400y Desktop PC    BT471AA

HP Pavilion Elite HPE-410f Desktop PC    BM424AA

HP Pavilion Elite HPE-410y Desktop PC    BM425AA

HP Pavilion Elite HPE-441f Desktop PC    BT519AA

HP Pavilion Elite HPE-447c Desktop PC    BT584AA

HP Pavilion p6610f Desktop PC                   BM417AA

HP Pavilion p6616f Desktop PC                   BT503AA

HP Pavilion p6617c Desktop PC                  BT427AA

HP Pavilion p6620f Desktop PC                   BM419AA

HP Pavilion p6622f Desktop PC                   BT492AA

HP Pavilion p6633w Desktop PC                                 BT429AA

HP Pavilion p6636f Desktop PC                   BT512AA

HP Pavilion p6640f Desktop PC                   BM422AA

HP Pavilion p6653w Desktop PC                                 BT529AA

HP Pavilion p6654y Desktop PC                  BT551AA

HP Pavilion p6674y Desktop PC                  BT552AA

HP Pavilion p6677c Desktop PC                  BT432AA

HP Pavilion p6687c Desktop PC                  BT543AA

HP Pavilion Slimline s5660f Desktop PC   BM430AA

Based upon HP records concerning your computer purchase(s), your

computer(s) may be affected. HP is implementing a Limited Warranty Enhancement for your system.

If you are seeing this type of failure, HP recommends that you

visit:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c03199423

This document describes the program and how it will affect you.

HP regrets any inconvenience this may have caused you and we look forward to assisting you.

Sincerely,

Hewlett-Packard Company


If you need additional assistance with resolving this you can contact us at 631-764-2600 or e-mail us at info@f1netwox.com

-Will Kutzler
F1 Networx Inc. 

Are you an E-Hoarder??

We've all seen the episodes on TV where out in the middle of nowhere this house is packed with garbage as far as the eye can see. We just can't believe it! Many of us swear that we will never get that way, but the truth is, you probably already are a hoarder.... an E-Hoarder that is. Don't be scared though, depending on what industry you work in, it may be a requirement, like finance and legal for example.
The most common thing for people to retain massive histories of is e-mail. The typical worker gets about 105 emails per day. That's over 25,000 emails per year!! While for some this doesn't sound like much, keep in mind that when you send a message, it saves a copy in your sent items too. So for those of us with busy mailboxes, its no surprise to become overwhelmed with thousands of emails when the year ends. The root cause of our affliction has been due to progress in technology! But isn't technology supposed to help? Well it is, but the problem is that storing information has become cheaper to do! Back in 2000, 1 Gigabyte cost about $9, today that same Gigabyte costs closer to $.08! 1GB costs less than 1% vs. back in 2000, which enables the mentality, "Theres plenty of space on my server, so why bother deleting?". There in lies the problem....

We've subjected ourselves to information overload and bloated storage costs. It isn't storing all those emails that's the issue, there's no way to find what you're looking for unless its been promptly sorted! So now we require a search engine for our mailboxes. With search engines like Google and Bing, we're accustomed to instant and accurate search results, but on desktops and servers however, its a whole different ball game. Comparatively, searching our own data is similar to using a stone and chisel to take notes, its just not up to snuff. The inability to find the information we need can leave us in a heap of other troubles, particularly when it comes to litigation.

When you are being sued or vice versa, having your data properly classified is essential. E-discovery is the stage of the legal research process whereby legal teams are sifting through mountains of data to find information that is relevant to the case. The faster they can find relevant information, the lower your legal costs can be. The efficiency of your organization to purge data is also a key function as well. Knowing when you can wipe data from the systems is extremely important as it keeps your data set manageable.

So in short, do some house cleaning and consider upgrading your document management system as this would be a good time to do it.

-Will Kutzler
F1 Networx Inc.

What Internet "Speed" Really Means

We all want to go fast, especially on the internet, but so many consumers are misled everyday by the advertisements of service providers.

When they [Cable Company, FiOS, Whoever] say that they're the fastest, they really mean that their service has the most capacity. On a network, speed means how long it takes for a signal to go from your end of a network to another. The technical term for this is latency, measured in milliseconds.

The service providers are actually describing capacity, measured in Megabits (Mbps) or Gigabits (Gbps) per second. What this means is you have a connection that allows for a lot more traffic before it gets bogged down. Think of a 6 lane highway.

Depending on your needs, you may want lower latency instead of higher capacity. If you have a web server, lower latency is better when you have many small pieces to transmit. An FTP server is completely different because you would want to move those large files in less time or be able to handle more transfers at one time. With the FTP server, how long it takes to make the connection isn't as important as how much data it can move when there is a large volume of data to move.

Here's an easier way to understand it...

Latency:
You need to deliver a letter (small files like a webpage) to someone across the country. Low Latency (fast) means you hop into a Formula 1 racecar and zip it across the country. If you need to transport many letters, this connection is great. This would be a T1 or other dedicated connection.

Capacity:
Now while the race car is fast, it can't carry large packages or freight (big files on an FTP Server), therein lies the problem. Here you would use a slightly slower connection (an 18 wheel truck) , to handle much more in one delivery. It takes longer but if you are moving many large files or have many people to deliver to, you want more capacity, speed isn't as important.

Common Connection types:

• T1/metro Ethernet - fast (private highway for your files), expensive, corporate grade, guaranteed speed and up-time metrics
  
• Cable Internet - "slow", but has a lot of capacity shared across subscribers, no service up-time guarantee, cheap
  
• FiOS (Fiber) - faster than cable, has much more capacity than cable, but no service up-time guarantee, cheap

There are many other options, but for the small business, it really comes down to these 4.

Depending on your internet usage needs (web server, e-mail, FTP, VoIP) having a cable/fios connection may not be the best solution.

We've helped countless companies measure their needs with the connectivity they really need, not just what they've seen on TV.

Thanks for reading,

F1 Networx Inc.
New York's Premiere Technology Management Group
631-446-1221
http://www.f1networx.com